Here is a blow by blow account of using the quickstart rules with the first encounter.

Surprise RoundKobolds rolled stealth for a total of 21None of the party was able to beat that on their perception RollThe Kobolds have surprise which allows them one action.The Slinger fires a glue pot at the Fighter rolls a natural 20 inflicts the maximum 9 points plus the fighter is now gluedThe Kobold Minions move in a line up the road intending to throw Javelins at the partyThe Kobold DragonShields move up behind the Kobold Minions

1st RoundSlinger rolls a total of 22 cracks a fire pot on the fighter for 6 points plus 2 continuing fire

The pissed off Dwarven Fighter readies a dagger and throw at one of the minions at long range. He rolls a 19, hits, and kills the sorry kobold minion. He can't move because of the glue, so he re-readies his maul.

Both of the Dragonshields delays, although not in the quickstart it is a common sense rule. They want to wait for the minions to swarm in so they can maximize their bonus for the mob attack.

Dragonborn Paladin moves up and let's loose with his Dragon breath. The close blast 3 effects allows him to encompass 3 minions and both dragon shields. He rolls the totals of 7,22,19,18,17. These are compared the minion and dragonshield reflex score. He hits 2 of the 3 minions and kills them. Both Dragonshields take 3 points each. The Human Wizard doesn't move and let's lose a scorching Blast on the remaining minion and the 2 Dragonshields. He rolls a 18, 5, 13. Kills the minion and misses both of the Dragonshields. The Cleric moves up and hits the first Dragonshield with a lance of faith with a roll total of 20 and does 9 points of damage and elects to give the Paladin +2 to hit on his next attack.

The last Kobold Minion screams and moves to the Paladin. Rolls a total of an 8 and misses.

The first Dragonshield elects to take his turn and move to the Paladin. The presence of the Minion gives him an extra +1 to hit. He rolls a total of 16 which misses the Paladin 20 AC.

The second Dragonshield also moves and gets an additional +2 to hit because of the minion and the other Dragonshield. He rolls a total of 15 and misses.

The Halfling Rogue moves next to the last Kobold Minion. Elects to a Deft Attack and move two squre further to the right to get behind the Kobolds. This provokes an attack of opportunity from the Minion. Despite the Halfing's total AC of 21 against AoO the Minion manage to hit with a roll total of 23 and does 4 points of damage. The halfling then strikes with his Deft Attack hitting with a roll total of 22 and kills the Minion.

At the end of round, the Dwarven Fighter rolls a 12 and saves against the glue effect. But he blows his roll with a 1 against the fire effect.

2nd RoundThe Dwarven Fighter takes another 2 points of damage from fire. He has taken 17 damage out of 31 hit points.

The Kobold Slinger Shifts 1 square to get a better Line of Sight. Roll a total of 11 against the Paladin and misses with his last fire pot.

The Dwarven Fighter Moves up and does a Sprinning Sweep on the 2nd Dragonshield. He wants the Dragonshield prone to finish him off. Unfortunally a roll total of 12 fails against a AC of 16.

The Dragonshields shift 1 square to the left trying to gain a combat advantage on the Paladin. The shift ability doesn't provoke AoO. The first Dragonshield shifts and misses with a roll total of 9 against the Paladin's AC 20. The second Dragonshield shift and also misses with a roll total of 11.

The Paladin does a Divine challenge against the first Dragonshield which marks him. Then swings a Holy Strike with a +2 modifier from the cleric from last round. But he rolls a total of 12 and misses due the Dragonshield's AC 16.

The wizard moves gaining a clear shot at the first Dragonshield. He lets loose a magic missles and rolls a total of 15 which hits as the Dragonshield reflex is only 13, The wizards does 8 points of damage. The first Dragonshield now has taken 20 damage out of 36 hit points.

Because the first Dragonshield had shift next to him the Cleric decides not to provoke an AOO and swings with the mace. The clerics rolls a total of 20 which hits and does 7 more damage to the first Dragonshields. The first Dragonshield is down 27 out of 36.

The Rogue exploits the gap between the Dragonshields and the slingers and moves behind the second Dragonshield. Rogue now has a Combat Advantage as the paladin is on the other side. However the Rogue's total roll of 16 misses the Dragonshield AC of 18.

At End of Round the Dwarven Fighter still burns merrily has he rolls a 2 for his save against fire. (He looking to roll 10 or higher)

3rd RoundDwarven Fighter takes another 2 points of damage. Taken 19 out of 31 hitpoints.

The Slinger moves further from the fight and decides to try to finish off the Fighter. However a total roll of 15 with the sling misses.

The Fighter uses his Maul for a reaping strike on the 2nd Dragonshield. WHile the total roll of 9 is a miss he still does 3 points of damage to the 2nd Dragonshield. The 2nd Dragon shield has taken 6 points of damage and started with 36 hit points.

Not ignoring the challenge the First Dragonshield swings his shortsword at the Paladin for a total of 9 which misses.

The 2nd Dragonshield swings at the paladin and rolls a total of 23 which hits despite the Paladin's AC of 20. 8 points of damage are dealt.

The Paladin elects to call on his god's divine strength to give +4 damage to finish the first Dragonshield. However the following Holy Strike with his longsword misses with a total roll of 13 vs 18 AC of the first Dragonshield.

The wizard laughing at the cluminess of the Paladin finds himself cursing when his Magic Missile misses the first Dragonshield with a roll total of 10.

The Cleric calls on Divine Fortune to give him +1 to hit. A healing strike with the Mace connects with a total roll of 19 on the 1st Dragonshield. 7 points of damage is inflicted along with the Dwarven Fighter gaining a Healing Surge of 7 points. The first Dragonshield now taken 34 out of 36 hitpoints.

The Rogue still retains combat advantage and rolls a total of 21 to hit the 2nd Dragonshield. He does 24 damages. The 2nd Dragonshild now has taken 30 out of 36 hitpoints.

Note: I plum forgot to use the Kobold's shift ability in this round.

During the End of Round the Dwarven Fighter finally save against fire with a roll of 14.

The Fighter aims to finish off the 2nd Dragonshild and does a reaping strike with his maul. He misses with a natural 1 but still does 3 points of damage.

The First Dragonshield connects with a roll total of 27 and does 9 points of damage to the Paladin

The 2nd Dragonshield shifts to get out of the Combat Advantage the Rogue has over him. He strikes the Paladin and hits with a roll total of 21, Does 5 points of damage.

The Paladin is now down 22 points. He tucks his sword under his shield arm (readies a touch attack), performs Lay On Hands and heals 7 points of damage, then re-readies his sword.

The Wizard is not humored when his second magic missile goes awry with a roll total of 12

The Cleric utters a healing word and the Paladin is healed for another 13 points. Then the Cleric strikes with his mace but misses with a total roll of 13.

The Rogue moves two square to the left with a Deft Attack provocating a AOO from the 2nd Dragonshield. The Dragonshield's roll total of 15 misses the Rogue Ac 21. The rogue then gains combat advantage and strikes. Hitting exactly with a roll total of 18. Does 18 points of damage and the 2nd Dragonshield goes down.

Round 5The Slinger is running far far away.The Dwarven Fighter uses his Reaping Strike and misses with a roll total of 15. However the 3 points of damage done on a miss still brings down the last Dragonshield.

Combat Ends

EnjoyRob Conley

P.S. The miniatures in the photo are over 25 years old. The Red Cleric is from the first boxed set for AD&D I bought from Grenadier back in 1979.

I'm not seeing the "plays more like First Edition" than 3.X did as some have touted.

I'm seeing rules bog down here. Am I the only one?

Edit: This is NOT a slight to the upcoming edition.

The classes feel even more iconic than their 1st edition counterparts. A paladin feels different than a fighter than a rouge. The only jarring class was the cleric and that was because of the ranged at will powers.

I didn't feel there was much of a bog down with the rules. There was a learning curve with the core stuff but once I understood it, then it was a matter of looking at (and understanding) the options on your character sheet. It was easy to resolve conflicts between different writeups (specific trumps general) and what you could do in a round was easy to resolve as well.

I don't know if people will consider it D&D but as a game it is looking good. The two big buy-ins are the power/combat system and the reduced customization compared to 3.X.

Here's a question for you... why do you have the PCs starting on the western edge of the map? The module is explicit that they start on the eastern edge (see page 16, second section in "Setup": "Have the players place the miniatures of their characters on the road within 2 squares of the eastern edge of the map, then give them two rounds to move their characters westward."

I read the whole encounter assuming they started on the west, then did a double-take when I finally realized they started on the east. It seems like it can't possibly be right. I think your interpretation is probably what they meant. One other possibility is they meant to fold the map differently -- half-fold in the middle -- since the "Features" section mentions gravestones that aren't present on their map...

Here's a question for you... why do you have the PCs starting on the western edge of the map? The module is explicit that they start on the eastern edge (see page 16, second section in "Setup": "Have the players place the miniatures of their characters on the road within 2 squares of the eastern edge of the map, then give them two rounds to move their characters westward."

I read the whole encounter assuming they started on the west, then did a double-take when I finally realized they started on the east. It seems like it can't possibly be right. I think your interpretation is probably what they meant. One other possibility is they meant to fold the map differently -- half-fold in the middle -- since the "Features" section mentions gravestones that aren't present on their map...

When setting up the encounter on page 16 it asks you place the heroes within two squares of the east side of the map. This puts the character right next to the kobolds. Is this right?

The illustration only shows the half of the map that you place monsters on. The encounter uses the entire map, so the heroes will have some breathing room to start.

_________________Mongol Warlord: Dungeon Master, what is best in life?Dungeon Master: To crush the characters, see their sheets pile before you, and to hear the lamentation of the players.Mongol Warlord: That is good!

It's probably about as dependent on minis as 3e was. Now having said that, I, personally, wouldn't play either edition without minis - I just love them too much.

_________________Mongol Warlord: Dungeon Master, what is best in life?Dungeon Master: To crush the characters, see their sheets pile before you, and to hear the lamentation of the players.Mongol Warlord: That is good!

Here's a question for you... why do you have the PCs starting on the western edge of the map? The module is explicit that they start on the eastern edge (see page 16, second section in "Setup": "Have the players place the miniatures of their characters on the road within 2 squares of the eastern edge of the map, then give them two rounds to move their characters westward."

Frankly because I missed it. I was focused on more what everybody could do as there a ton to keep track of if you are running everything by yourself. Also I run GURPS a lot and the setup was how I do encounters like this. (Outdoor Ambushes) Also I ran with the map folded to look like the encounter in the book.

I just ran the encounter with a friend of mine, Tim, with everything setup the way it supposed to be. (well without the errata at least) The results weren't radically different. Two of the PCs got the hell beat out of them, the Dragonshields proved to be the toughest to take down, and the Slinger the last to be dealt with.

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